Brandon Bridge Makes History, Again

Brandon Bridge played a strong 2014 season for the South Alabama Jaguars, throwing for 1,927 yards, 15 touchdowns and rushing for another 297 and four. Bridge also etched his own little piece of college football history, quarterbacking South Alabama to its first bowl game in program history.

Brandon Bridge made some more football history Thursday when he became the first Canadian-born quarterback to play in the Canadian Football League since 2010. CFL teams typically feature American college standouts, and have done so exclusively for the last half-decade. The 2014 Grey Cup, for example, featured former FCS national champion and Walter Payton Award winner Bo Levi Mitchell and Brian Kelly/Butch Jones pupil & Cincinnati Bearcats star Zach Collaros.

Bridge entered the Montreal Alouettes’ Week 1 game against the Ottawa RedBlacks — quarterbacked by Temple product Henry Burris — third on the depth chart. However, when former Tennessee Volunteer Jonathan Crompton and Central Michigan’s “Tim Tebow of the MAC” Dan LeFevour both suffered injuries, Brandon Bridge got the call.

The Mississauga-born Bridge didn’t just end a five-year Canadian quarterback drought for the CFL; he is also the first Canadian to play the position for Montreal since 1985.

Bridge’s CFL regular-season debut was inauspicious yet promising. He threw two interceptions and completed just 50 percent of his throws, but his five completions were good for 62 yards.